Major Tom
by keeper37
Summary: The category says Misc. - Plays/Musicals but that's b/c there was no 'Songs' category. I've had a few oneshot ideas based off songs and here's one of them. Based on the famous 'Major Tom' character: A final transmission is heard, but is he still alive?


**Author's Note:**

Like I said in the bio, based on the character 'Major Tom' as made famous by David Bowie, Elton John, Peter Schilling and others. This particular version is based on Peter Schilling's _Major Tom (Coming Home)_. A bit of a background, it's Apollo 19 (which everyone knows Apollo 17 was the last lunar landing) but that's because I needed to make my own story and characters based on historical events but on events that didn't really occur...if that makes sense.

Forgive me if it displays poor writing, I threw it together a few days ago after musing about what I will hopefully be doing in about twenty years. :D

* * *

><p><span>Major Tom<span>

I sat there waiting. I was told this was the worst part; being strapped in for hours, waiting for launch. The engineers were doing their final checks and maintenance was making sure that not only our cargo was safe but the pilots were as well. Who knew it took so long to put us in a seat belt?

I looked to my left: Captain Craig. He sent a thumbs-up back to me as he raised his hands to have someone buckle the first set of three-point belts. We were wingmen all the way since pilot school. It's amazing how long we stayed together. No one wants to split up the best teams and no one was going to argue against us when we said we were one of the best.

I looked to my right: Yuri Klaskov. A Russian NASA picked up to perform this joint lunar landing. Even though he was third and final in command on this mission, he was the only one who has had any space flight experience. He wasn't too happy about that but he understood a Russian couldn't be in charge of an American operation so he kept his mouth shut.

Then I looked down at myself. Look how far I've come. From that little boy standing out in the middle of the field with my dad's small telescope, to getting accepted into pilot school, to graduating top of my class, to fighting MiGs in Korea, to being accepted into NASA's Astronaut Program, to sitting down (more like lying down) in this seat, waiting for the god damn launch. Waiting for my ticket home.

"COM check. Repeat COM check."

I turned my head toward the sound of the voice before realizing it was coming from the head piece already in my ear.

"Roger Canaveral. We hear you loud and clear." I answered back.

"Copy. This is Lunar Excursion 8 aboard Apollo 19, ELV Saturn V Rocket. Crew on board: Commander Major Tom, Vice Commander and Pilot Captain Craig, Co-Pilot and Module Command, Yuri Klaskov of the USSR. You are clear for takeoff. T-minus four minutes. Over."

This was it. Four minutes until launch. I ran through the pre-takeoff check, flipping on thrusters, arming fuel cells and launch systems. Everything checked in.

"Ready for take-off. On your mark, command." I said hoping that was the final thing I needed to say before flipping on the tiny switch in the large red box. Such a large launch vehicle waiting on a switch a mere inch long to be turned 90 degrees upward.

Time seemed to slow. "Two minutes until launch."

"How you feeling over there Orion?" Craig called out to me. Orion was my call sign.

"Giddy as a school girl Maui."

I heard him chuckle. I looked over to Yuri. He tried to hide it but I saw the small smile on his face as he rolled his eyes.

"One minute. Good luck team."

Still after all this time, launch a short minute away and I still had to wait.

"T-minus 10."

I felt the sweat drip off my face. I didn't even know I was sweating.

"9"

I bit my lip in anxious excitement as I opened the red box.

"8"

Fear gripped by entire body.

"7"

I thought of my wife and two children.

"6"

I froze in the sudden thought of what would happen to them if something went wrong.

"5"

I knew what I was getting into. Death is something an astronaut embraces.

"4"

It's too late to turn back now.

"3"

The excitement came over me again and I couldn't help but grin as I rested my figure on the switch.

"2"

I wiped the smirk from my face. Prepare to launch.

"1"

This is it.

"Launch."

I flipped the tiny switch without hesitation. The roar of the engines blasted over all noise. I could barely make out the words, "This is Apollo 19 on June 8th, 1973. We have take-off." from the command center a few miles away. The forces hit me like a bus. Were all these seat belts even necessary? I couldn't even move my arm up from being glued to the back of the seat. The tiny windows on my left and right were glowing. A few clouds flew by like smoke. A few minute had past but it all seemed to instant. We were still breaching the atmosphere, waiting for the dark void of space. The sky outside was losing its color. Soon enough, black was all that could be seen from the windows. The rockets let off on the thrust and I could feel the infinitely small gap between me and my chair get bigger. Once I was able to move my arms, I waited for the queues from the ship before mindlessly flipping more switches and hitting some buttons. I didn't even know what they meant or why I was hitting them. I'm sure if I thought about it I would remember but I've played through the situation so many times, it was like instinct. I sent a few more messages to command in Houston before feeling the weightlessness of space.

I unbuckled and floated away from the prison of a chair I was locked in for the past few hours. So easy to get out of but so damn hard to get into. I floated over toward the window and saw the most amazing sight of my life. The atmosphere was like a thick blue haze hovering over the horizon of the pale blue dot we call home.

"Pacific Ocean." I didn't even notice Craig was right next to me until he spoke. "We travelled so fast, we've already circled the globe. We floated over to the other window where Yuri was look out of. Hundreds of thousands of miles away was the moon. Almost in distinguishable from all the stars being used as a backdrop, the moon was just a tiny speck.

"I don't get it, it's much bigger from Earth!" Craig blurted out.

"Dat's because the refraction frome the Earth's atmoe-sphere." Yuri commented.

"Just a few more days now." Craig concluded.

Great. More waiting.

*o*

The moon was getting larger and larger with every passing second. Our destination looked more beautiful yet desolate with every glance. The light and dark grey alterations made it look like pock-a-dotted monochromatic spectacle. Our time was approaching. Craig and I suited up for our excursion. Yuri was to command the module as it orbited the moon while Craig and I played around in the moon dust. Another point that he was not too fond of.

The lunar capsule seemed even smaller than the simulations. We crammed in, one-by-one until we were ready, waiting for the signal.

"Good to go."

We felt us break apart from the module and begin out descend. The window down below began to scare me. The solid ground of the moon was approaching at a speed would make us and our tiny tin can a pancake. But every time you thought you'd impact, you'd keep going. There is no real sense of height when there is nothing to model off of.

Not too much later, Craig began to direct the counter boosters to slow down our impact. Small "pffff"s and "ksh"s were heard from all around. The cloud formed from all the dust being churned up from the boosters definitely made our contact noticeable from anyone watching nearby. We felt a large "smack," signifying our landing. And again more waiting; waiting for the dust to settle so we could head out.

In the mean time we went over each other's space suits, checking for anything unusual.

"Just like back at school, checking over each other's Blues."

"Yeah. And to be honest, I can am perfectly proud of the Whites we're wearing now."

"Ha, I hear you there."

We finished out checks before opening the hatch. We crawled out of the tiny door just like Alice in Wonderland. Except out Wonderland composed of rocks and dust instead of trees and mushrooms.

"Look at that." Craig said through his helmet communication system. "The sight of man's accomplishments."

I turned my head in the same viewing direction. The earth was half visible, just like a quarter moon. The clouds, land, and water swirled to become the greatest masterpiece of an image.

"Unbelievable."

*o*

"Carter, sir, we have confirmation the lunar team has made contact with the surface." A small man in a white buttoned shirt and a black tie with glasses and holding a clip chart said to another man, standing high above the men and computers below him. "Estimated time of contact, -15 minutes."

"Good. Good." Carter said as the smaller man squabbled away back to his chair. He grabbed a man passing by. "Stevens, get a hold of the press and tell them Houston confirms the landing."

"Yes sir." The man said as he too ran off to do his business.

The man standing above the others placed his hands on his hips and starred at the trajectory screen projected in front of him. He drew in a heavy sigh.

"And this is where the real fun begins."

Obviously he wasn't serious. The team in Houston used to be able to watch the crew as they roamed the moon's surface but with recent budget cuts, the live-feed cameras taken by the astronauts to the surface have been excluded in the equipment checklist. So once again, they played the waiting game. Waiting for the crew to respond with their departure of the surface and their rejoining with the module orbiting above. They were only to be on the surface for a few hours. Their oxygen tanks and life suits have not been designed for much longer. So Carter and the rest of the team sat, waiting, watching their screens for any abnormalities.

The hours slowly passed and the command center began buzzing again with the simple words, "Sir, they have left the surface."

"Alright, let's get an eye on the module. Make sure the ground vehicle enters the linking zone in approximately 8 minutes. Check the connectors to make sure are stable. Turn boosters on….now."

"Negative sir, they're not responding." A man fired back.

"What?"

Another man stepped up. "Sensors indicate a malfunction in the fuel cell."

"God damn it." Carter mumbled as he dug his fingers into his eyes.

"Will they reach the linking zone within the suspense?"

"Negative. The module will need to make a few more orbits with a redirected trajectory to get within range."

"Son of a bitch." He mumbled again. "Have you contacted the crew?"

"We've tried sir. There was no response."

"What in God's sweet name is going on?" Carter stormed down toward the com section. "Major Tom, come in Major Tom. Do you read?" Nothing but silence. "Major Tom, Captain Craig." Still nothing.

"Get the administrator on the phone. Lock the doors; nothing gets out until we fix this." He commanded to another drone at the computers below.

"You got it sir." He said before running off.

Carter laid his head down on his palm when suddenly a crackle was heard over the radio.

"…ou….ome in?...This i…..jor Tom…..rea..."

"Thank God they're alive. Isolate that signal, put me on lead mike." Carter ordered. "Major Tom, are you alright?"

"…ad….opy."

"Major Tom, this is command. Is everything stable?"

"Systems are…o. Thrusters…ot responding."

"Alright, we are redirecting the trajectory of the module. You should enter the linking zone in twelve minutes."

"…egative command. This is my home. I'm coming home."

"What did he say?" Carter asked hypothetically to whomever was closest. "Major Tom, do you read?" And to command's dismay, no response was heard. "Major Tom. Major Tom, do you read?" Still no answer.

"Sir, fuel systems indicate an explosion in the fuel cell." The room fell silent. A few heads dropped, the heaviest being Carters. He slammed his hands down on the table in front of him.

"Trajectory indicators dictate that. It says the landing vehicle has not experienced any change in momentum or direction." Another man stood up and yelled.

"Module indicators report rejoining in process." A man from the other side of the room shouted in response.

"Would someone please tell me what is going on?" Carter ordered more to the malfunctioning computers than to the people working them.

"Fuel cell is completely drained. Only an explosion would cause such a quick consumption of fuel."

So there Carter was, standing between four people with two different stories on the condition of Major Tom and the crew of Apollo 19. Did an explosion occur killing the crew, or have they rejoined with the capsule and are on their way to Earth?

"Try the coms again. I've got to know whether they are dead or whether they are coming home!" Carter shouted to the room.

The coms were put on over the loud speaker, nothing but static was heard.

* * *

><p>Is he alive or is he dead? Which computer was right? Did 'coming home' mean returning back to Earth, or being trapped in his new 'home'?<p>

I wanted it to be a bit of a cliffhanger but I don't think I got into the story as well. Listen to the song (I prefer the version by Shiny Toy Guns) and you might get more of a feel for it.


End file.
